Author Archives: keith holland

Mobile phones have permeated every aspect of our lives. We talk on them, text on them, email on them, bank on them, shop on them. Fact is, you can pretty well operating your entire life with that little device in your pocket. But, it hasn't always been that way. It has been a rocky road of development for the cellphone. Let's take a look at the story of mobile technology with a brief history of mobile phones.

Early Days

Mobile technology began to be explored as far back as 1918 in Europe. Like most things in those times, the technology was centred around trains. Military trains experimented with mobile communications tech post World War I and went public in the 20's on trains largely based out of Germany.

In the 40's the first mobile call was made from an automobile. In 1946, the first call was made from a car in St. Louis, Missouri. That was followed up by a service set up in Chicago, illinois that year. These phones weighed 80 pounds and operated on just three channels city-wide. That later expanded to 32 channels on three bands. This practice continued in some capacity until the 1980's.

The First Truly Mobile Phone

Motorola began development on the first truly mobile phone in 1973. It took a decade for the first phone to hit market. The Motorola DynaTAC launched on March 6th, 1983. It retailed for $3,995 for those who were lucky enough to get their hands on one. The phone itself featured up to 30 minutes of talk time, 8 hours of stand-by time, a 10 hour charging cycle, and cost $100 Million dollars to develop. This phone ran on a 1G Network and was followed up by several variations.

The Network Expands

2G Networks launched in Finland in 1991. It took 10 years for 3G Networks to start pop up, followed up by the standard 4G Network in 2009, and now, we are settling into LTE networks. During this period phones began being offered by numerous companies and service providers. The number of subscribers has sky-rocketed, going from 12.4 Million people in 1990, to over 6 Billion people in 2011.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 is the heir apparent to one of the most popular phones ever made. It released this year to high acclaim in the mobile world, settling comfortably in most critics top five smartphones. The S4 Mini is, as expected, the shrunken down version of that behemoth. While it packs some of the same punch, the weight behind it is expectedly less.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini

For starters, the S4 Mini features a dual-core processor that is clocked at 1.7 GHz and 1.5 GB of RAM. For your eyes, the Mini features a 4.3 inch AMOLED qHD display. This display is of course known for its ability to conserve battery power by not requiring juice to project black. Unfortunately, it is also not a true HD screen, but it is still very crisp. The Mini features a plastic chassis, which might feel cheapish to some, but keeps the phones weight very light. The S4 Mini ships with the Android 4.2.2. Jelly Bean OS.

For those who were completely turned off by the gesture controls on the original S4, rejoice! Gesture controls are gone with the Mini. Unfortunately, LTE also didn’t survive the chopping block when it came time to fit the S4’s guts into a smaller chassis.

The S4 Mini features a 1900 mAh battery which hides behind the phones removable back panel. There you’ll also find the absurdly hard to access microSD port. The Mini only features 8 GB of internal memory, but luckily that can be expanded up to 64 GB.

Big Brother, meet Little Brother.

The S4 Mini ships with two cameras. Firstly, a 1.9 Mega-pixel front facing camera for your shameless selfies, and an 8 Mega-pixel shooter on the back. It also features an LED Flash which should help with night time photography.

Battery wise, due to the dual-core processor and smaller screen, the S4 Mini actually fares quite well when it comes to battery life. The average user will have no problem going to bed with plenty of battery to spare, meaning you won’t have to worry about late night cabs or emergencies.

While companies continue riding the wave of the Mini craze, Samsung has made a pretty decent phone. The S4 Mini may feature less processing power and a not-quite HD screen, but it gets a lot of things right too just by nature of being the little brother of the S4. People looking for a smaller scale superphone don’t need to look much further than the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini.

They may have just launched the HTC One and HTC One Mini, but HTC has started to stumble. The company is slowly but surely starting to separate itself Samsung and Apple, and not in a positive way. Even though their phone, the HTC One, is thought to be the best phone available on the market today, the company as a whole is starting to become something of a third wheel next to the giants of mobile technology. HTC is now looking to get their horse back in the race with their new Emerging Devices department, a department hell-bent on innovation.

HTC's new department's main task is obvious. Find a way to make themselves the top phone builder. This would of course be done by making the most innovative products. In addition to creating new phones, the division also has the slightly vaguer task of working on "global distribution strategies".

While there are no whispers of any new phones creeping out just yet, what is apparent is that there is a pretty major shakeup going on at HTC. Numerous people have come and gone over the past little while. This is a sign of the company's dissatisfaction of with mediocrity.

The question is why does a company who builds the consensus best phone on the market need a shake up? Well, that vaguer part of the "Emerging Devices" department's mandate might play a role. To me it seems HTC has an image problem. Their name isn't as well known as Samsungs, and isn't as cool as Apples. It's a tough spot considering that the HTC One is such a good phone. While good products tend to sell themselves, HTC is up against the king of cool and the king of tech. This means they need to find a new way to breakthrough and get noticed in an oversaturated phone market and one built on being cool. While being good at something is usually good enough, HTC needs to work on doing it good, and looking good in the process. Something they have yet to master.

Verizon has introduced a new plan to get you using newer phones faster. It's called Verizon Edge and it makes upgrading your phone early a breeze with an option to do so every six months. The plan, which comes into effect on August 25th, spreads payments on your next phone over 24 months and lets you upgrade every six months if 50% of the new phone's retail price has been covered.

While the idea of getting a new phone every six months if you choose is pretty cool, it is worth noting that this plan is downright nasty when you get down to the basics of it. Essentially this plan gets you paying for the phone you have, and a phone you don't, before you even have it. The new monthly payment associated with this plan essentially breaks down as one part subsidy for your current phone, and one part payment for something you don't have. While this plan is worth it to some when used early and often, it is downright terrible for those who choose not to upgrade in the first year.

For example, take a $650 Samsung Galaxy S4. At the end of your two year plan you will have fulfilled your $650 obligation to Verizon and paid off your phone. In addition to that you will have forked over $480 so you would have the opportunity to give Verizon even more of your money.

What Verizon, and other companies adopting similar plans, are doing is taking advantage of the consumer's desire to buy new phones and keep up with technology. This plan, and others like it, take advantage of people who just want to stay current. What these companies need to do is offer a plan that treats their customers with integrity and come up with a plan that allows consumers to spend their money, but have something to show for it.

The Summer heat is here and it is time to pack up and find your favourite beach, fishing hole, or trail again. PureMobile loves the Summer just as much as you do so here are our top three accessories for the Summer Season!

The Griffin Survivor Waterproof Case

Keep your Apple iPhone dry this Summer without sacrificing functionality with this waterproof case from Griffin. The Survivor is a 100% waterproof case that allows you to still use your phone. You don't need to worry about applying or removing the case constantly because of this, making it a very versatile and practical case. The case itself accomplishes this without adding too much bulk or looking ridiculous, meaning you don't need to worry about your phone looking silly when your sitting next to the pool or on the dock. This case also protects against shocks and vibrations.

The Griffin Survivor Waterproof Case

The Otterbox Pursuits 40 Dry Box

The Otterbox Pursuits 40 Dry Box is the ultimate dry box for the outdoorsman. Safely store your phone, important documents, or other electronic devices safely and securely in this waterproof and durable box. It doesn't matter if you're doing some Summer camping, kayaking, or you're just at the beach, you'll find a million and one uses for this box.

The Otterbox Pursuits 40 Dry Box.

The XMI X-Mini II Capsule Speaker

The XMI X-Mini II Capsule Speaker is sure to be a hit no matter what song you are playing. This portable speaker will give you up to 12 hours of portable and powerful playback. The speakers unique design promotes a very tonally pleasing musical experience. If one speaker isn't enough, these speakers can be linked to form a chain of speakers that will raise the volume through the roof. Take this speaker to the beach or the cottage to enjoy portable sound wherever Summer takes you.

The Motorola X is coming soon, but facts are still pretty scant as the phone has been spotted in the wild and in the hands of some pretty powerful industry people. Eric Schmidt, the Executive Chairman of Google, was spotted with what many suspect is the Motorola X recently. But what exactly do we know about this device and when should be expect it to hit the market?

First things first, all signs point towards this phone being something closer to a budget phone. This isn't the next HTC One, iPhone 5, or Samsung Galaxy S4. This doesn't mean it's a slouch though. It is rumoured to feature 4.7 inch 720p display, a dual-core Snapdragon S4 Pro CPU, 2 GB of RAM, 16 GB of storage, a 10 megapixel rear-facing camera, LTE, and run on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. What should make this device stand out is the name. Motorola is a veteran of the mobile phone industry. Secondly, this phone is expected to be streamlined. No bloated software, just a simple, clean interface that will appeal to casual phone users who want quality, but don't need the best specs. These less than high end specs will also reflect in this phone's pricing. Expect this to be a serious value phone.

As for a release date, it is rumoured that this phone isn't too far off. Based on the fact that one of Google's top executives is flaunting it out in public means that this phone is coming close to hitting the market. Otherwise, why would the Executive Chairman of Google be using a less than high end phone? Google is the kind of company that does everything for a reason, and this blog and countless others are proving it. The date on the horizon is speculated to be August 23rd based on leaked documents from Verizon.

Microsoft has decided to cut the price of its flagship Surface tablet, leading to speculation that the company is worried about low sales or is possibly clearing stock in anticipation of a new line of tablets. The devices will now cost $350 for the 32GB model or $450 for the 64GB version. With a Touch Cover these prices increase by $100 to $450 for the 32GB model and $550 for the 64GB model.

The Microsoft Surface Tablet with Smart Cover

This represents a significant undercut on other premium tablets on the market. In fact, the Microsoft Surface retails at $250 less than the 32GB iPad and $80 less than the iPad Mini. They don't just tackle Apple with this price cut though. The Microsoft Surface also undercuts the Nexus 10 by $150 at retail. With the cuts, Microsoft will be competing directly with smaller and lower cost alternatives like the Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire.

While sales numbers regarding the Microsoft Surface remain scarce, it is believed that the tablet isn't performing as strong as Microsoft had hoped or expected. The cut in prices could in response to that or it could also be something else altogether. Some are speculating that Microsoft is preparing to refresh their line of tablets. Just last week at their Worldwide Partner Conference Microsoft teased the idea of launching new versions of their Surface and Surface Pro tablets. It is believed that the surface would be in line to receive an upgraded Haswell Chip. The Surface Pro would possibly be outfitted with a Snapdragon 800 processor.

Whatever Microsoft decides to do, the damage appears to have been done when it comes to their Surface experiment. The price cut comes across to me as white flag. The interesting part will be to see what Microsoft does next. It isn't enough to make a comparable tablet to the iPad, they need to blow it out of the water. If Microsoft is able to release a tablet that does that, maybe then we'll see someone finally take a chunk out of Apple as of yet impenetrable armour.

Apple, the maker of the iPod, iPad, and iPhone, has been found guilty of conspiring with major book publishers to artificially raise e-book prices. A court in New York City passed down this ruling last week saying that the electronics giant worked with six major publishers to raise prices when it broke into the e-book industry in 2010. The victim of this price fixing? Consumers who had to bear the brunt of the cost, and Amazon, who through pressure from publishers, were forced to raise prices from their original $9.99 price point.

While Apple was found guilty, the court says that Apple worked hand in hand with publishers to bring an end to the $9.99 e-book, specifically targeting Amazon and its customers. This cooperation led to Amazon being forced to raise its prices and leave customers wondering why their e-books were rising in price inexplicably.

Apple has of course denied that they took part in any wrongdoing, and insist that they in fact brought innovation to the e-book market with the iPad and the iBookstore. To this day the e-book market is still dominated by Amazon, and it's device, the Kindle.

The plan was to unfold as such. Essentially, Apple struck something called "agency agreements" with the major publishers. Once these agreements were in place, they effectively legitimized the raising the prices. The next step in the plan consisted of the publishers going to Amazon with a take it or leave it agreement. Lost in all of this is the fact Amazon actually sells e-books at a loss, as they are in fact trying to establish the e-book as the premier method of obtaining the written word. Something big book publishers did not like.

Ultimately Apple chose to go to court, while five of the major publishers settled out of court. Further court hearings are scheduled to decide damages, but appeals are expected to slow down the process dramatically.

It may only be a couple of months old, but the HTC One will soon be getting an update or two. Rumours are running rampant that not only will the powerhouse smartphone receive an upgrade before 2014, but that an entirely new and improved HTC One (The HTC One Two?) will be coming in 2014. In addition to these new phones, their may also be a new low cost version of the One coming. This is, of course, not out of the blue for HTC, who released The One X and quickly followed that up with The One X+ in 2012. We'll take a look at all these new models (names not confirmed) right now.

The original HTC One in all its glory

The HTC One

A new version of the massively popular HTC One is very likely on its way. This phone will be a near copy of the HTC One outside of one glaring omission. The new version is said to do away with the solid aluminum body of the One in favour of a cheaper plastic chassis.

The HTC One.5

The new version of the HTC One, which is said to be coming out later this year, would also be similar to the HTC One, but would feature some improvements on the highly rated phone. One such improvement would be the introduction of the Snapdragon 800 chipset. The HTC One ships with that chips predecessor, the Snapdragon 600. This would of course represent a boost in speed for the device which is already considered amongst the fastest available.

The HTC M8

Not much is known about this phone outside of its spy-like codename. It is believed that prototype M8s have been used to test a new version of the Android operating system, Android 4.3., and that it will be coming out sometime in 2014.

An eye-catching case from Griffin, the Survivor is a very stylish case featuring a Moxy Cat pattern. On top of style, this case features a dual-layer synthetic polycarbonate shell to help protect your Apple iPhone 5. This case is designed to be slim and pocket friendly. Even the inside of the case has been engineered to ensure that your phone does not get scratched inside the case.

Griffin Survivor in Black

Griffin Reveal

If you love the look of your Apple iPhone 5 and hate to cover it up with a bulky case, the Griffin Reveal is for you. This polycarbonate case adds just 1.6mm to your phone and features a clear design, allowing you to see your baby at all times. This case is also handy because it doesn't obstruct any of your key ports or camera.

Griffin Reveal Case

Griffin Survivor - Grey/White

This edition of the Griffin Survivor is a seriously tough case. Rated as military strong by two different military standards, this case is wind, rain, shock, and drop proof. The case is made of shatter resistant polycarbonate coated in shock absorbing silicone. Plugs protect your vital ports while leaving them accessible.

Griffin Survivor in Grey/White

Incipio Kicksnap - Black

Half case and half stand, Incipio's Kicksnap is a two in one accessory. The stand easily retracts making it simple to stand up your Apple iPhone 5 so you can view slideshows and videos. When closed, the kickstand serves as a compartment door.

Incipio Kicksnap Stand

Incipio Feather - Black

Incipio's Feather is an incredibly light case for your Apple iPhone 5. Weighing in at just 0.5 ounces, this ultra light case keeps your iPhone from feeling like a brick in your hands while still protecting it from the elements. It's sleek and simple black design also appeals to those who like to keep it simple.